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I’ve been asked about waterkefir, so I thought I’d write a post about it.

A lot of people have heard of milk kefir, but I confess I had never heard of either until a few months ago.

So what is kefir and what do you do with it?

Image via Wikipedia

Water Kefir, also known as Tibicos, Tibi, Japanese water crystals or California Bees is a culture of bacteria and yeast held in a polysaccharide matrix created by the bacteria. Sounds yummy, doesn’t it?

Actually, it doesn’t taste of anything much on its own and looks like a load of little white granules, but by making a Water Kefir drink, it becomes a delicious sweet, sometimes fizzy, probiotic drink, packed with nutrients. Sounds yummier now, eh?

If you want to know more about the substance itself, have a look here.

If you want to know what to do with it, keep reading:

To make Water Kefir:

Take a Mason or Kilner jar and clean it thoroughly (I like to sterilize mine too, just to be on the safe side)

Spoon 2 teaspoons of Kefir grains into the jar and fill with clean water (filtered or spring if you can get it.)

Add 2 teaspoons of sugar, or a substitute*

Mix it up and close the jar. Leave for a few days, “feeding” the kefir some more sugar each day.

The more you “feed” the grains (don’t overdo it – a teaspoonful a day is enough!) the stronger it gets. After several days it can become fizzy, which is a nice alternative to carbonated drinks. It will even become very mildly alcoholic, eventually, but don’t get too excited, 2% is about as strong as you’ll manage!

This is not an exact science. Taste the water to determine whether you want to drink it. It should not be overly sweet. It can take time to make it just how you like it, but you can enjoy drinking all the experiments.

To drink, simply drain all the water out into a sieve or muslin and use the grains again.

They will multiply and before you know it, you’ll have several jars on the go and you’ll be begging friends to take them off you! You can eat excess grains if you prefer!

*Sugar. Obviously, not everyone wants to use refined sugar, even though it is the kefir “eating” it and not you, but some alternatives are:

Luckily, Mr H should be able to pick me some up at work tonight, but meanwhile… what can I put in my green smoothie? (I’ve taken to making sure I get a couple of pints of green smoothie every day because I feel better on it.)

Well, disaster averted because I have some standby Wheatgrass Powder; not as good as the fresh stuff, but not a bad substitute.

Wheatgrass powder is 21% protein, 22% carbohydrate and only 2% fat. It has lots of fibre and also contains plenty of magnesium and zinc, as well as a bit of sodium.

I made this delicious quick smoothie (which didn’t even need straining)

I’m really into eating foods of different colours. The brightly coloured foods are rich in antioxidants and eating a range of colours ensures a good intake of the range of vitamins. On a spiritual level, eating a rainbow diet nourishes the chakras.

I have recently been learning a lot about the beneficial bacteria in cultured and fermented foods and have been introducing these foods into our diet.
One of the biggest benefits I have noticed is the improvement in my digestion.
I no longer have gas, whereas I used to – a lot! I notice now that if I don’t eat these foods for a couple of days; my digestion plays up.
I used to feel sick whenever I ate anything. Since switching to raw food, I do not feel sick anywhere near as often. Beneficial bacteria help this situation dramatically.
Another improvement is in my skin, hair and nails. My skin is smoother and softer – on my body, as well as my face; my hair and nails are growing faster and are stronger. Additionally, my hair, which used to be quite dry, now rarely needs conditioning. (I have changed some of the products I use, but this is not the only reason I believe my hair has improved.)

Here are some of the fermented foods I’ve been making:Sauerkraut and Kimchi
In addition to the sauerkraut I discussed in an earlier post, I have also been making Kimchi. This Korean dish uses miso instead of salt-water. It’s just as easy to make and I have been using a variety of vegetables, layering them in the jar. It is just as delicious as sauerkraut and a perfect way to make some of those hard greens more palatable.
Some people can manage crunchy, crispy foods, but I have never ben able to get on with it; I like my food quite soft. Culturing it helps me enormously!

Cultured Water

When I have eaten all the kimchi/sauerkraut from a jar, I bottle the leftover water and use it in savoury recipes, instead of regular water. It adds nutrition and flavour.

KefirWater kefir grains are amazing. I bought a small packet on ebay and started making my own Kefir.
Just add a couple of spoonfuls (1 packet) of kefir grain to a glass Kilner jar of filtered water.
Add a couple of spoons of sugar (you could use any sugar, maple syrup, fruit sugar etc.) and leave it for a couple of days. It is ready to drink then, either on its own or added to fruit juice or a smoothie.
The grains grow and multiply. I was amazed at how big some of them got.
In no tome at all, I had enough grains for two jars, then three, then four and now I have five jars on the go, spaced a day apart, so there is always some ready. I even gave my mum some grains when she visited.
I’m not sure I entirely understand exactly what kefir grains are; some sort of bacteria, but I’m no scientist and even though I live with one, I haven’t yet figured it out! What I do know is that kefir tastes good and does me good – all I ask from my food.

Miso
Although miso is not a raw food, it is a living food; at least, if you buy an un-pasteurised variety.
I use it quite a bit in kimchi, sauces and sometimes just as a drink. I have been a fan of miso for many years.
One of my cousins once asked my what my secret to eternal youth was (he hadn’t seen me for 10 years and asserted that I hadn’t aged!) I told him it was miso, and promptly made a cup to drink!

There are other fermented foods I want to try and I will let you know how I get on when I do.

I fell right off the waggon this evening when Mr H bought me some chips on the beach!
Oh dear! But I gobbled them down like I was never going to eat again!
I have heard that potatoes are often very difficult to give up. They are so firmly entrenched in our culture.
Ever since Sir Walter Raleigh introduced them in the 16th century, they’ve made their way into so many thing we take for granted about British cuisine now.
Chips are the ‘national dish‘ apparently (together with, ironically, curry!) and just think how many potato products there are in the shops and on menus across the land!
But, of course, potatoes are not really very suitable to be eaten raw!Kate Wood asserts that cooked food is an addiction and that there are five highly addictive foods. These are: Potatoes, Wheat, Soya, Corn and Rice and she reckons that these vary in how hard they are to give up, depending on your genetic make-up. My European ancestors must’ve enjoyed a lot of potatoes, that’s all I can say! I do crave the fluffy white carbs!
So I was eating my chips and for a while they seemed to be hitting the spot, but it wasn’t long before I felt full, still hungry, slightly sick and the tell-tale headache began prickling at my temples.
By the time we got home, I was really craving some green stuff!
I made this smoothie, quickly, to satisfy my body’s desire for chlorophyll:

Blend everything together, (adding a bit at a time if you have a regular blender, as I do) until nice and homogenous. You can strain this through a nut milk bag or muslin if you want to, but I was desperate for the green stuff so I guzzled mine down. It made just over 2 pints which, being nice, I shared! =)

I have used Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture several times in my life, for a variety of problems and I’ve always found it helpful.
One of my reasons for not employing a raw approach to food for the past couple of decades is the Chinese Doctor’s assertion that I should eat warm foods to improve my spleen energy.
The Spleen, in Western medicine is not considered very important. It is regarded as a rather vague organ with some connection to the immune system, but many people seem to manage very well without it, due to disease or injury, etc. However, in TCM it is a vital part of the whole digestive area and plays a part in the development of muscles. Practitioners have told me for years to eat hot foods and keep the lower half of my body warm especially during the winter.
But I no longer believe this to be incompatible with the raw food lifestyle. I have made nourishing soups, which I’ve then warmed gently to blood temperature and this is very warming. Some foods such as ginger and chilli have a warming effect.
And then there’s tea. I like mixing my own blends of tea, using herbs, barks, berries as well as green, black or red tea, sometimes. One particular favourite of mine is this. I call it Blueberry Power TeaBlueberry Power Tea
1 pinch Pau d’Arco
1 bag Blueberry Tea (black tea mixed with dried blueberries)
Steep these in a cafetiere for five minutes and drink hot.
Sweeten with agave or stevia if sweetness is required.

Pau d’Arco is really great stuff. It is the inner bark of the Taheebo trees and contains anti fungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic compounds. I drank it for a couple of days recently when everyone around me was streaming with a nasty cold. I had that back-of-the-throat feeling, so out came the Pau d’Arco and Zap! Cold gone! It comes from South America, so obviously it’s imported. I bought mine from Funky Raw.

Another area of contention for me in terms of Chinese Medicine has always been my decision to follow a vegan diet. Several Acupuncturists have shaken their heads at this decision (Vegetarian – fine. Vegan – no!) And they are not alone. Doctors, family members, friends and even complete strangers have lectured me on my diet because it is commonly (and incorrectly) believed that it’s not possible to get the full range of nutrients entirely from vegetables. It is possible, but it is important to be careful, generate a knowledge of nutrition, eat as wide a range of foods as possible and ensure food is of a good quality. I managed to become a bit deficient in Vitamin B12 once because I was using the wrong brand of yeast extract in my gravy! It was easily rectified.
Protein, for example, comes up all the time. “Are you getting enough protein?’
We need a lot less protein that many people believe (it’s different for children of course,) and this is easily obtained through vegetables, beans, seeds, grains, fungi… after all, plants need to grow too, so we simply ingest their growth chemicals = amino acids!
B12 is harder to obtain in vegetable forms and a lot of vegans rely on supplements. I did this exclusively for years until I discovered that B12 comes from the dirt vegetables grow in! (Animals get this from the vegetation they eat, which is why meat contains B12.)
so now I don’t scrub every last scrap of dirt of my vegetables. I pick leaves straight from the garden and put them into salads and smoothies. I brush the dirt off mushrooms instead of thoroughly peeling them as I used to and I brush my carrots with a dry brush before juicing them. You need to be careful though. “You eat a peck before you die” may well be a true adage, but a gritty smoothie is not pleasant!

However, I do still supplement my diet in two further ways: Firstly I use a nutritional yeast which is fortified with B12 and secondly, I take a supplement tablet. I am one of those unfortunate people who doesn’t absorb or make B12 very well, so I need to ingest more to get the correct absorption. Doctors have threatened me with injections before if I let my levels drop again, so I don’t want to take any chances! I do believe it’s important for vegans to be very aware of this.
No wonder some pregnant women start eating dirt – baby knows best!

And while we’re on the subject of children. Should kids be brought up on a raw diet? I’m in a quandary with this and don’t know where I stand. There is an argument that the raw diet is healthier, contains more nutrients and is therefore better for children. but there have been cases of kids becoming malnourished (although as far as I’ve been able to determine, it seems their diets really were limited, which is not going to work anyway.)
Certainly, I believe it is better than a diet of ready meals and MacDonald’s, but I wonder, since children are growing, should they have a wider range of foods? And maybe they should be given informed choices from a young age?
It’s a difficult issue, and one I’m no doubt I’ll return to. One thing is for sure though: Right here, right now, the raw diet is working for this adult.